Wings defenseman Brendan Smith ‘surprised’ by move to forward

Detroit’s Brendan Smith, center, celebrates his goal with Justin Abdelkader, right, and Brian Lashoff during the second period against the New Jersey Devils, March 4, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

DETROIT >> The lack of healthy forwards has led Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock to this … dressing a defenseman to fill out his four lines.

And Brendan Smith is that guy.

“With the amount of injuries we have, we feel this gives us the best opportunity,” Babcock said at the morning skate Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena prior to the Wings game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Moving Smith to forward was necessary after the Wings lost yet another forward to injury. The latest to go down is Justin Abdelkader, who will miss up to two weeks due to a leg laceration from a skate blade Sunday in Chicago.

“Surprised, for sure,” Smith said. “I haven’t played forward in quite some time. They just think I have the tools where I can skate, hit and pressure so that’s what I’m going to do.”

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Despite struggling at times on defense and making poor decisions with the puck, Smith viewed the move as more of a compliment rather than how it could be perceived as a demotion.

“You have to look at it like that,” said Smith, who’s averaging just over 18 minutes of ice time on the blue line. “It’s different. I’m always excited to play, it doesn’t matter where it is. I’d rather be playing forward than not playing at all. I hope it’s not like a demotion where you went from defense to playing four to five minutes. That would be very frustrating.”

Smith, who entered Tuesday’s game with three goals, 12 assists and a minus-4, had a very costly turnover against Edmonton on Friday, a backhand pass right onto the stick of the Oilers’ Ryan Smyth that led to the game-tying goal.

“They see me as the most versatile on the back end that can step in,” Smith said.

Smith has experience at forward, playing the 2004-05 season with the Toronto Marlboros, a AAA team. He played on a line with John Tavares and Sam Gagner.

“I’ll do exactly what they want me to do, win puck battles, skate and dish the puck so that’s pretty much what I did with those two,” Smith said. “I got a lot of points doing it. I was kind of the power forward in that sense.”

Smith had 22 goals and 63 assists in 66 games that season.

Chris Chelios was the last Wings defenseman to see regular minutes at forward, playing right wing against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 11, 2009.

“I’m a defenseman,” Smith said. “This is not something that I’m going to be changing. I’m not (Dustin) Byfuglien or Brent Burns. Truthfully, I’m here just to help the team win. That’s what a lot of these guys are doing and that’s what I’m doing. As soon as someone gets healthy I’ll go back to defense and assume the position.”

Advice from dad

Landon Ferraro made his NHL debut Tuesday and his dad, Ray, gave him some fatherly advice.

“He said just try and take everything in,” Landon said. “He says he doesn’t remember a thing from his first game and he’s disappointed that he doesn’t so he said you know as much as you’re going to be focused and everything like that, just take a look around and notice everything going on and try and remember it.”

Ray was on hand to witness his son’s first game in a Wings sweater.

“I grew up loving the Leafs and I always had to try and go against my dad about it,” said Landon, whose favorite Maple Leaf was Mats Sundin. “This is the best thing that could’ve worked out. For me the biggest thing is this is where my dad played his last game in the ‘02 playoffs when Detroit beat St. Louis so it will be pretty cool his last game, my first game in the same building.”

Landon, who’s a restricted free agent after this season, replaced Teemu Pulkkinen in the lineup.

Quote of the day

Babcock on the team’s morning skate prior to the game against the Maple Leafs.

“Lots of kids,” Babcock said. “Watching the pre-game skate, the puck was like a hand grenade. The bottom line is you get called up, you’re excited, you want to show you can stay. The guys that are real good players aren’t scared of the puck, they want it. The guys that are nervous have to go back for more time.”

Send comments to chuck.pleiness@macombdaily.com and visit his blog at redwingsfront.wordpress.com